G. Peter Martyr at Oxford
G. Peter Martyr at Oxford
With this new, Protestant theology, Vermigli moved northward in May of 1541 to become prior of the rich and influential monastery on Saint Frediano in the Republic of Lucca. It was there that he initiated a series of educational and ecclesiastical reforms which, in the words of Philip McNair, amounted to an “ideological revolution; [so that] Lucca came perilously near to civic reformation on the pattern of Calvin’s Geneva.”165 But after a mere fifteen months of such reform, Pope Paul III hastened its demise by reinstituting the Roman Inquisition. Recognizing discretion as the better part of valor, Vermigli renounced his vows and made the difficult decision to flee his homeland.166 When he finally crossed through the Rhaetian Alps and arrived in Zürich in the fall of 1542, he was welcomed by Heinrich Bullinger (1504–75), Konrad Pellikan (1478–1556) and Rodolph Gualter/Gwalther (1519–16).167 Unfortunately, there were no positions open in Zürich. After two days, Vermigli continued to Basel, where he remained for a month, enjoying the hospitality of Oswald Myconius (1488–1552) and the generosity of Boniface Amerbach (1495–1562), who provided Martyr with books and money. Since Basel was also without an open academic post, Vermigli accepted an invitation to teach in Strasbourg, where he succeeded the late Wolfgang Capito as professor of Divinity.
Simler explains that it was “that good and learned man,” Martin Bucer, who arranged for Vermigli’s academic appointment to the College of Saint Thomas in Strasbourg.168 The Italian exile was expected to “teach sacred letters,” which he proceeded to do from the twelve books of the Minor Prophets, Lamentations, Genesis, Exodus, and a large part of Leviticus.169 Of these lectures, only those on Genesis and Lamentations are extant, with the former containing Vermigli’s locus on the doctrine of justification.170 “Certainly, upon his arrival,” James notes, “Vermigli’s theological perspective was judged acceptable to the Reformers of Strasbourg—indeed, it was compatible enough that he was immediately invited to lecture on the Old Testament.”171 With regard to the quality of his teaching, it wasn’t long before Vermigli ascended to the stature of Bucer, and, in the estimation of many, even surpassed him.172
Strasbourg was significant for another reason. It was there that Vermigli married a former nun from Metz named Catherine Dammartin, “a lover of true religion.”173 According to McNair, the wedding probably occurred in October 1544.174 Known for her Christian virtue, Catherine was especially admired for her charity among the English, with whom she and Peter Martyr lived for most of their married life. After eight years of marriage, she died childless in February 1553. Peter Martyr would later marry his second wife, another Katie, in May 1559.175
After five fruitful years of teaching in Strasbourg, Vermigli recognized the threat of doctrinal censure within the Holy Roman Empire (which was soon enforced by Charles V through the Augsburg Interim).176 Thankfully, liberation arrived in the form of an invitation from Archbishop Thomas Cranmer to help fortify the newly independent Church of England with Protestant theology. McNair suggests that Vermigli was also motivated to accept the invitation by “holy curiosity, the same impulse which was an ingredient in the compulsion that urged him to cross the Alps in 1542.”177 On November 4, 1547, with permission from the Strasbourg senate, Vermigli departed from nearby Basel, accompanied by his friend, Bernardino Ochino.178 Their spouses eventually would follow them in the spring, escorted by their friend, Giulio Terenziano (known in England as “Julius”).179 McLelland explains how the Strasbourg period was “a decisive phase for Martyr’s theology, for in England he was immediately put on the defensive and from that time until his death was engaged in drawing out the implications of his doctrine in the face of a variety of opponents.”180 Toward this end, the recently crowned King Edward VI (February 20, 1547) approved Vermigli as Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University and bestowed on him the honor of Doctor of Divinity.181
While we tend to think of Oxford University as old and venerable, it should be remembered that the Regius Chair of Divinity at Oxford had only been established a few years earlier in 1540,182 and the charter foundation for Christ Church, the new college under whose aegis the chair fell, was issued on November 4, 1546, just one year to the day before Vermigli and Ochino departed from Basel for London.183 Thus, Vermigli found himself in a new country, at a new academic institution, under a new dean, among several new canons, and, perhaps most significantly, facing a new theological challenge.184
Under the rule of the boy King Edward VI and his Lord Protectors, Edward Seymour followed by John Dudley, it was “through Archbishop Cranmer himself that a distinct Evangelical stance entered England; this was eventually styled ‘Reformed’ Christianity.”185 Peter Martyr and Bucer (who arrived in the autumn of 1549 to occupy the Regius Chair at Cambridge)186 were chosen for the expressed purpose of implementing this vision.187 According to Diarmaid MacCulloch, “by late 1547, Martyr and Cranmer were already very close in theological outlook.”188 Even so, the challenge of their mission loomed large. In Martyr’s words, “Indeed I took upon myself a weighty charge.”189 This was despite the fact that, according to S. L. Greenslade, “Peter Martyr was unquestionably the most learned” of the early holders of the Regius Chair in Divinity.190
When Peter Martyr took up his post at Christ Church, he supplanted Professor Richard Smith, who McLelland describes as a “model of inconstancy,” and, quoting John Strype, “giddy and unstable,” and of “a profligate conscience.”191 McNair is more gracious by comparison, suggesting that, reading Smith in depth, “it is hard not to feel a sneaking sympathy with him.”192 Whatever one’s opinion of Smith’s character, the fact is that he quickly became one of Peter Martyr’s chief nemeses.
The ad hominem nature of Smith’s opposition to Vermigli, as evidenced in several invectives and diatribes, gives one the impression that he harbored a certain amount of resentment toward Martyr for his demotion.193 This first of these attacks came shortly after Smith left Oxford in 1549, in a treatise defending celibacy.194 He followed this with further attacks in a second work that upheld the sanctity of monastic vows.195 McNair points to the highly visible nature of these traditions of Catholic piety as the reason for Smith’s selection of these topics.196 In a letter to Bucer, Peter Martyr expressed the view that Smith’s book was “stuffed so full with maledictions, accusations, and the bitterest contempt, that I think I never have heard before of any tongue so unbridled in abuse.”197 Eventually, Smith instigated the famous Oxford Disputation on the Eucharist.198 A final demonstration of Smith’s animus was his Diatriba de hominis iustificatione . . . adversus P.M. Vermelinum, published in 1550.199 Andreas Löwe’s comment on this work gives a sense of how significant the doctrine of justification had become in this period: “Smyth’s 1550 publication primarily sought to address the doctrinal innovations of his home-country . . . [and] that England had been corrupted wretchedly by the infection of many heresies among which justification by faith featured prominently.”200 Peter Martyr’s most significant response to Smith’s opposition was his exposition of the New Testament book of Romans, to which we now turn.